Grandmother Eluna's reaction didn't suggest that she was seeing someone succeed for the first time. She was very familiar with the entire process and steps.
"The Blackfire Brothers!" The old nun's eyes were still bulging, in a strained, wide-eyed state. "While others went insane one by one, they succeeded in confusing their brains, listening to the whispers. They stole the Black Flame's Unholy Grail. They are apostates, sinners!"
Linde took the information into his mind, but didn't say anything. After all, he was just a casual believer himself. If another denomination started handing out eggs, he would immediately convert.
What concerned him more was that there had already been a Grand Knight six months ago, and this was just a corner of the world. Perhaps the shattering of the Circle of Magic wasn't as bad as he thought, and some people still held power.
If they also discovered the players' abnormalities, they would also be interested in the players' powers.
All you had to do was kill to get stronger, and you couldn't die. They were practically the perfect tool.
I have competitors now!
Not good news.
Linde put away the book Praise the Sun. Perhaps this book was the greatest gain besides the potion for advancing to Grand Knight.
"We should leave Puley Town today. There are a group of devout knights waiting for your guidance there."
"Of course!" Grandmother Eluna stuffed the rat jerky back into her pocket, looking very serious.
...
Linde had bought a lot of things this time, so he specifically found a two-wheeled cart to use when leaving.
The physically frail Grandmother Eluna naturally sat on the cart, which was pulled by two soldiers.
The price of livestock was dozens of times more expensive than before the magical apocalypse. This was too expensive for small forces. Manpower was the cheapest option.
"Sir, we must be careful, or we may be targeted."
"Mm."
Linde nodded. All the way, his left hand remained on his sword hilt, and his attention was at its highest level.
Four people, plus an old nun, and a cart full of supplies – it was practically shouting to others, "Here's some easy prey! Come rob us!"
Having successfully advanced to Grand Knight, Linde wasn't afraid of the refugees. Let the reckless ones come.
What he feared were the inhuman things. While the likelihood of encountering them during the day wasn't high, it didn't mean it was impossible.
Those who coveted the moon and feared the sun were ultimately low-level Calamities. No one could guarantee that higher-level monsters wouldn't appear.
They walked for a long time, but the anticipated attack didn't occur.
"There are scattered footprints here," Linde said, looking at the freshly made footprints on the ground. "They were originally planning to ambush us here, or something else, but something seems to have happened that made them choose to flee. The scene is very chaotic."
An image involuntarily surfaced in his mind: the huge hoofprints like those of an elephant. The lower body was a horse, and the upper body might be something twisted by truth or faith. Suction cup-covered tentacles? Eyeball-covered tentacles? Or eyeballs covered in tentacles?
But so far, no hoofprints had been found, only messy human footprints.
In any case, whatever had happened, he couldn't let his guard down.
"Sir?" The four soldiers, and Grandmother Eluna, had already seen a different meaning in his solemn expression.
"Pick up the pace!"
Whatever that thing was, he should get away from it quickly.
After a day of non-stop travel, they finally saw the outline of Stardragon Outpost, like a beetle crawling on the horizon.
Finally home!
During this time, the White Stockings Enthusiast had only released a video of building a house, so Linde only knew that everything was well at the outpost.
"The Captain's back!" As they approached the outpost, the sentry on the wall shouted at the top of his lungs.
The outpost's heavy gates creaked open.
The soldiers spontaneously came out to help carry supplies, each one full of enthusiasm and hope for the future.
These were all necessities for life!
Linde routinely asked, "Have those Undead caused any trouble lately?"
"No, they just finished building a house," the soldier replied, shaking his head.
Linde made a point of taking a look and found that within the area he had planned, a small, dilapidated house made of wood and stone had been built. While it wasn't pretty, it was enough to provide shelter from the wind and rain.
According to the players' mindset, it was still the early stages of development. They wouldn't have the leisure to stay here and build houses.
Once the novelty wore off, players would be more inclined to go out and explore, to do quests.
"Lord!" White Stockings Enthusiast was the first to spot Linde, excitedly rushing over. "Got any quests for us?"
After his shout, the other three players also gathered around.
"Yeah, Lord, any quests? Anything will do!"
"Any dragons or something!"
"Giants, undead, anything's fine!"
You guys are certainly "not picky."
Linde struggled to maintain his composure. He suspected that if things continued this way, instead of becoming a regional overlord, he might become a world-class actor first.
He adopted the serious tone that NPCs always had when giving out quests. "Alas!"
There's hope!
Seeing him sigh suddenly, the four players immediately perked up.
Sure enough, Stardragon Outpost wasn't an ordinary newbie village, and the quests issued by this lord were different.
During the two days and one night in the game, the four people weren't really staying in the game without going out. They had to log out to eat, drink, and relieve themselves. At those times, they would also communicate with other players. The game forum had already been filled with posts from players. Many players would browse the forum after logging out, since it was the only official chat zone. It was not only convenient to view, but also allowed them to add friends with one click, share data, and so on. The videos they made could also earn money, and there were collaborations with other video websites. So the players really couldn't find a reason to abandon the forum.
It was just too useful.
But it seemed that the official team had completely disappeared, with nothing but an internal beta announcement.
The 3,000 players of the closed beta version 1.01 weren't just a disorganized rabble. Especially after White Stockings Enthusiast's first video went viral, many began forming player groups.
The four of them had basically joined all the major player groups, just to get their hands on the latest information and resources.
About 1,300 people had successfully found a newbie village and gained protection.
Of the remaining 1,700 or so, some were spawned directly into monster spawn points upon birth, effectively "bricking" their accounts, unable to move.
Some were captured and made prisoners, with no freedom.
Others appeared in desolate areas, not knowing where to go, getting completely lost, and having no gaming experience at all.
If it weren't for the ability to level up by killing monsters and freely log out, this world would feel unrealistically like a game, as if it completely didn't care how difficult things were for the players.
As for those players who successfully entered newbie villages, unlike White Stockings Enthusiast and his friends, the currencies they encountered weren't always gold coins, and could be described as bizarre and diverse, each village having its own.
The lack of standardized currency made the players complain incessantly. The sunk costs were too high, and even if they wanted to switch factions in the future, it wouldn't be easy.
Secondly, other newbie villages generally had important characters such as a "quest board," a "blacksmith," an "apothecary," and a "merchant."
Players could accept fixed daily tasks through the quest board character, buy and repair weapons and equipment through the blacksmith, buy health and mana potions through the apothecary, and finally buy or sell various materials through the merchant.
Looking at Stardragon Outpost, its walls were many times higher than those of other newbie villages. It was practically a fortress. There were none of the defense missions common to newbie villages. Could enemies like wanderers or hill tribes even break through Stardragon Outpost's sturdy walls?
Although there was no quest-giving girl here, there was a Lord. However, the Lord didn't stay in one place like a quest-giving girl for a long period of time. Linde's recent disappearance had left them frustrated for quite a while.
There was no blacksmith within the outpost, but there was a weapons shop. While other newbie villages were still selling cloth and fur armor, this place was already selling heavy plate armor, and even complete sets of full plate. When the four of them showed off the things they were able to buy, the other players in the group drooled with envy, clamoring to come to Stardragon Outpost. But they couldn't find the way, so they could only be jealous.
What was missing, regrettably, was an apothecary and a merchant, so the functionality always felt somewhat incomplete.
But overall, the four were very satisfied with Stardragon Outpost as a newbie village.
Some had even begun to analyze that Stardragon Outpost wasn't a regular newbie village, but a hidden faction with its own special storyline.
This was also the reason why the four of them were patiently staying here.